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insulating scenario

Would like to discuss the possiblility of insulating a hive outside to keep it near the ideal wintering temperature. They say that the ideal wintering temperature is around 40 degrees, which permits the bees to move cluster to get to new food, but at the same time it is too cold for them to think about flying. So many hives are lost every winter to bees not being able to get to their food supplies because of prolonged extremely cold weather. If we could insulate to the point that the surface of the hive does not get below 35 or 40 degrees, then starvation would be nearly impossible assuming that there is plenty of food, the bees are healthy, and clusters are of sufficient size. So the hypothetical question is, is it possible to insulate enough to accomplish this and how would you do it? John